Gekokujou
by Thelchtereia
Summary: Oi, Shishido, you suck at doubles!"


"Gekokujou." Shishido muttered under his breath.

Gakuto let out a snort of laughter before quickly cutting it off, looking up into the eyes of the third year that was passing them by and trying so hard not to burst into laughter that he had tears in his eyes from how hard he was biting into his lip. As soon as the other boy was out of earshot, Gakuto turned to Shishido and punched him in the shoulder. "You're gonna get me killed, you idiot!"

Shishido rubbed at his shoulder with one hand, his face scrunched in mock pain. "Oh come on, you know it was funny."

Gakuto just rolled his eyes and walked away from Shishido to the other side of the tennis court toward the two freshman boys standing there.

Immediately Shishido knew there was going to be trouble. He watched warily as Gakuto whispered to them conspiratorially and the boy with the silver hair nodded quickly.

"Sure." The boy glanced over in Shishido's direction and gave him a smile sweet enough to make Shishido sick, giving Gakuto another nod and then quickly jogging his way. As he skidded to a stop in front of Shishido, the boy quickly bowed. "You're Shishido-san, right? I'm Ohtori Choutarou. Mukahi-san said that we should play double. Um, if you want to that is."

Shishido stared at the top of Ohtori's head for a moment and then looked over to Gakuto who was already standing in the ready position just inside the service line, a lanky brown-haired freshman boy standing at the baseline getting ready to serve. "This is so lame..." He muttered to himself, and then yelled across to Gakuto. "I don't play doubles, stupid."

Gakuto just grinned and shifted his weight impatiently. "What, afraid you'll lose?"

Shishido looked back over to Ohtori and studied him for a moment. "You any good?"

Again there was that sweet smile--Shishido really thought he was going to be sick this time--but the kid replied confidently. "Of course, Shishido-san."

"Good. Let's kick his ass."

The freshman's smile changed and he looked away but didn't say anything. After a moment Shishido couldn't resist. "What?"

"Um, don't you mean their asses... Shishido-san?"

Shishido's mouth fell open, and then a moment later snapped shut when he couldn't think of a response. Without another word, Shishido walked up to the front of the court opposite Gakuto and crouched down in the ready position.

Six games later, Shishido collapsed to the ground in disbelief as Gakuto did a celebratory cartwheel on the other side of the net. "How the fuck did he beat me?" Shishido muttered more to himself than anything, not noticing the way Ohtori gave a resigned sigh behind him.

"Oi, Shishido, you suck at doubles!" Gakuto called out, turning around to grin at his doubles partner who simply nodded in response and looked away.

"Shut up! I told you I don't play doubles!" Shishido retorted and quickly got up off of the court to take a step toward the net.

Gakuto stayed purposefully just out of reach "I didn't know that meant you royally sucked." He retorted, sticking his tongue out as Shishido scowled.

"Shut up you little twerp! I'd like to see you face me in singles." Shishido stepped up to the net and gripped the top of it in his left hand, his right still around the handle of his racket that was hanging uselessly now at his side.

Gakuto still stayed a step back from the net but leaned forward teasingly as he replied. "I'll take you on any day, Ryou."

"Shishido-san, Mukahi-san, come on it's time to go."

Shishido was aware that someone was calling his name, but his mind was whirling trying to come up with a comeback and he was so close to just reaching across the net and punching that smug look right off of Gakuto's face. "You're welcome to try." Shishido growled out, his left hand releasing the net and curling into a fist.

"Sempai!"

The both of them froze at the yell that echoed across the courts, and Shishido whirled around to look at Ohtori who was still standing at the baseline and looking mildly perturbed.

"Practice is over." Ohtori stated simply, just standing there watching them.

Shishido turned back to glare at Gakuto for a moment longer and then stormed off past Ohtori toward the locker room.

The following day Shishido fully intended on challenging Gakuto to a match, had been planning how he was going to approach Gakuto all day throughout his classes. He'd decided to go up to Gakuto right at the beginning of practice, challenge him in front of everyone so that his pride wouldn't let him refuse and he couldn't change the conditions of it to his benefit. When the beginning of practice rolled around and Shishido had finished changing just before stepping out onto the courts he was actually feeling anxious. It wasn't like challenging Gakuto was any new occurrence but normally there was an argument prior, it didn't just come out of nowhere. But as soon as Shishido opened the door he knew things weren't going to go according to plan.

There was a commotion on one of the courts, with a small group of third years on one side and Gakuto alone on the other.

"--Little bastard was laughing at me."

"I think we should put him in his place." The third years were going on, and sure enough Shishido recognized one of them as the boy who had walked in front of them the day before.

"Fuck." Shishido picked up his pace and walked over toward the court.

"Hey look guys, I wasn't laughing at him okay?" Gakuto was saying, slowly backing away from the other guys.

"What's wrong, you too chicken to play against me?"

Shishido watched Gakuto's right hand ball into a fist as he took a step forward again. "Of course I'm not a fucking coward like you to need three guys to intimidate one!"

Shishido was about to step forward onto the court when someone put a hand out in front of him and held him back. Whoever it was stopping him was going to get a piece of his mind, but as soon as Shishido looked sideways and found that it was Atobe he quickly shut his mouth, though the scowl remained.

"Let him handle it on his own."

For a moment Shishido debated defying him and going out onto the court anyways, but then he grudgingly nodded and stayed put. Out on the court the other two guys had backed off and they were about to start their game, and after a moment of indecision Shishido quickly jogged over to Gakuto's side.

"What do you want?" Gakuto growled, obviously expecting trouble and nervous about the game.

Shishido just smiled and put a hand on his shoulder, leaning in close to whisper in his hear. "Gekokujou."

Gakuto laughed and just nodded in response, stepping away to get ready to serve with a smile now on his face.

Shishido turned and walked back over to Atobe, noting that Jirou, Ohtori and that brown-haired kid from yesterday were there standing next to him already and Kabaji was looming behind him like a shadow as always. Off to one side Oshitari was playing referee, and on the opposite side of the court a small grouping of the third-year regulars were watching as well. Evidently this was the entertainment for the day. Now all they had to hope for was that Gakuto could hold his own against one of the Hyoutei regulars.

As Gakuto served and the game begun everyone around the court was completely silent, and when the third year won the first two games without Gakuto winning even a single point that hadn't changed. It wasn't until Gakuto won the third game with a well-placed volley that Shishido had confidence Gakuto would win, especially since Gakuto looked just as astonished as his opponent.

The match dragged on forever with neither boy backing down, and when Gakuto won--six games to four--Shishido cheered and was joined enthusiastically by Jirou.

"Kuroki." Atobe called out to the third-year and everyone could see him wince visibly. "You are dropped from the regulars. Mukahi, you'd better not disappoint."

Gakuto's eyes widened as though he hadn't realized what exactly his win had meant for him until Atobe spoke those words, and for the remainder of practice Gakuto had a huge grin plastered to his face. Well, for all of practice minus the moment just after the lanky brown-haired freshman walked straight up to Atobe and challenged him in front of the entire tennis club. For that moment the grin disappeared in shock and then returned as he found out the boy was really serious.

Evidently he had seen something in Gakuto's match against Kuroki that gave him the courage to challenge Atobe, but everyone knew that he wouldn't get anywhere by challenging someone that was unbeatable. Regardless, Atobe decided to indulge him, since he never minded a stroke to his already engorged ego.

A few people stuck around to watch, but most of them went back to their individual practices since they already knew what the outcome of this match would be. Shishido stuck around, if only because his plan for the day had been thwarted, and Gakuto settled down near him on a bench to catch his breath. Shishido was only half paying attention, since he expected the game to honestly be rather boring, but he watched as the freshman readied himself for Atobe's serve.

Just before Atobe tossed the ball up into the air, the freshman muttered a quiet yet fierce, "Gekokujou."

Shishido and Gakuto both looked at each other in disbelief, and then a moment later burst into laughter. Hiyoshi may have lost six games to zero, but to Shishido and Gakuto it was the most entertaining match they'd ever seen.


End file.
